Much of the discussion about the Roseanne reboot so far has been on centered on creator Roseanne Barr’s politics. She’s an avid Donald Trump supporter (her well-worn rationale: he will “shake up the status quo”), and so Roseanne Conner will be as well. This makes sense: Illinois’ 20 electoral votes went to Hillary Clinton, but that’s because she took Cook County, where Chicago is located; otherwise, most of the smaller counties, where the fictional Lanford (and its “working-class people” who love loose meat sandwiches) would be, went to her opponent.
But there might not be as much as Trump talk on the show as you think. In fact, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sara Gilbert (who plays rebel daughter Darlene) says we don’t even hear his (or Hillary Clinton’s) name.
BARR: I thought everybody was pretty liberal, so I was keepin’ an eye on it, making sure that it was evenhanded. But the day we went to shoot [the pilot], I got with the writers, and I’m like, “You guys have to have a Hillary slam.” ‘Cause they were all Trump slams.
GILBERT: Although we never say anybody’s name.
BARR: But we do say, “How could you vote for him?”
BRUCE HELFORD: And we say “pantsuit” …
BARR: That’s the line you gave me, and it was a great Hillary slam. I wanted to represent the country and how divided we are.
GILBERT: People think this show is more political than it is. It’s more about how a family deals with a disagreement like that. But I get it, it creates website clicks. (Via)
Oh no, we’ve been exposed! So let’s talk about someone that doesn’t rhyme with Dump and Badminton: John Goodman! He was the blue-collar heart and soul of Roseanne, which made his death in the series finale so devastating. But Barr is pretending that never happened because, well, it’s best to forget most of season nine. Also, there’s no Roseanne without Dan. Barr agrees.
BARR: I got a call from Sara. I said, “I don’t know.” And she goes, “John’s in.” I go, “Yeah, I’m in.”
GOODMAN: It took three weeks from that call till we had a deal at ABC.
GILBERT: Then there was the moment for me where I was like, “Uh, now we gotta do it, and it’s gotta be good.” I was nervous.
BARR: It’s a great writers room. The best one I’ve ever been in.
Roseanne returns on March 27.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
